Fantastic Beasts and where to find them by JK Rowling

By blogger Caroline

"Featuring a cast of remarkable characters, this is epic, adventure-packed storytelling at its very best"

Fantastic beasts and where to find them by J.K. Rowling

Hey all!

I just finished reading the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them! I also watched the movie on Friday. So I thought I could review both at once!

When I heard that JK Rowling was making a new addition to the wizarding world that was all about the magical creatures you hear about, I could not wait to see it and read it! Honestly I would read anything that she publishes that relates to magic. The world that she created is so incredibly vast and beautiful that it is hard not to go back to it.

Note: I would like to thank the Dominicanen Boekhandel in Maastricht for giving me a copy of this! Thank you so much! This does not alter my opinions in any way.

So I won't stall any longer - here is my review for Fantasic Beasts!

Gorgeous covers are my weakness

When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt's fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone…

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, author of the beloved and internationally bestselling Harry Potter books. Featuring a cast of remarkable characters, this is epic, adventure-packed storytelling at its very best.

Whether an existing fan or new to the wizarding world, this is a perfect addition to any reader's bookshelf.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a prequel to the much-beloved Harry Potter series. It takes place in 1920's New York, where the Salem Witch Trails have been brought back to light, and where witches are shunned by the general public. The peace between the humans and magic folk (no-majes vs wizards) is balancing on a thin line - any evidence of wizardry in New York could start a war between the two groups.

Enter Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who has a suitcase full of magical creatures that escape into New York City. Naturally, this causes mayhem. He his helped by Tina, Queenie and a muggle (I really have to get used to saying no-maj now ^^), Jakob, to find the creatures before too many people can notice them.

At the same time, Grindewald is on the loose - he is a notorious wizard, known for murdering muggles in Europe. 

I absolutely loved it. This movie shows you everything that you learn about with Harry Potter in a real-world setting, basically how magic is used in a wizard's adult, every-day life. Some of my favorite spells like alohomora are used and it makes you warm and fuzzy on the inside to hear such spells again! There's the Harry Potter theme song playing from time to time, and references to the original series that made me smile!

It was really interesting to see the Wizarding world in another country - muggles become no-majes, the Ministry of Magic is MACUSA, Hogwarts is Ilvermorny, etc. It makes you think, what about other countries? It also makes you realize how big the wizarding world is - just as vast as our own.

The beasts were incredibly creative! They were some mixes of animals that are common to us, such as stick insects or manta rays, but with a twist to them. Honestly the movie put them in such a beautiful way!

I already have to stop, sadly, but I cannot wait to see the second part of this quintology! I might expand on this later :)

I give it 5 crosses!

Me before you, by Jojo Moyes

Blogger Caroline: 'This book was heartbreaking, addictive'

Me before you by Jojo Moyes

Hey all!

I just finished reading Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes!
I mean legit read most of it in one sitting, sat there in feels, had lunch and came up to review it.

The thing is, when you're a book reviewer/blogger, you know that there're three main types of reviews that are really difficult to write: 

- For books that you didn't like
- For the second book in a series
- For a book whose ending end so massive / impressive / crushing that the rest of the book just kinda   seems like a blur

Let's guess which one Me Before You falls under xD



"Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.
Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time."

So, how to review a book that leaves you so crushed?

I'm gonna do my best! ^^

Note: This will probably will be full of spoilers. Instead of doing a spoiler section, I'm just going to leave spoilers in this. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK!

So Me Before You is about Louise and Will. Louise lost her job and starts working for Will and his family. Will is quadriplegic - he can not move anything below his 4/5th vertebrae. This leaves him in a wheelchair and having to have caretakers. He is depressed and knows one thing - when and how he wants to die. Louisa sets herself a mission with the help of her sister - to change Will's mind and to show him that life is worth living, even if he cannot live it as he used to.

This book was heartbreaking, addictive, and overall a nice read - I can see the hype around it!

I liked the way it was written! It was simple writing that was easy to understand, yet when different characters narrated their own parts, you could tell the narration was different. Each of the characters had an important part in the story, and each of them was amazing.

I feel like I could really understand some of the characters and their decisions. Louise is 26 and somewhat lost in her life - having lost her job, she doesn't really know what she wants to do with her future. When she meets Will and they finally start to get along, he opens her horizons and making her realize that she can do more with her life than just let it pass without seeing the world and having experiences like scuba diving. Her character development in this book was really amazing! She learned so much from Will.

Before his accident, Will was full of life - he would skydive, rock climb, travel the world, and had a generally active lifestyle. His accident changed him as a person. Incredibly sarcastic and pragmatic, he and Louise did not get along at first. Whenever she tried to help or to make his life brighter, he would shut her down with rude comments. But eventually, he opens up to her and keeps nudging her to try things she would never do otherwise - getting a tattoo, traveling or even going to a classical violin concert. And she slowly learns that she enjoys it. Yet his handicap leaves him unhappy with his life. He lost his friends, people look at him with pity, he can't go on the same adventures as he used to, and his daily routine his full of medicine and having to be helped. He once cut his wrists but was saved by the doctors. He promised his parents to stay alive for another 6 months, but at the end of that time, he arranged to go to Switzerland in an institute where people can undertake euthanasia. He feels like it's the one thing he can control in his life.

 

Lou comes from a family that's in the lower class. They are a fan of the fact that she works for a rich family - they need the money she can make, but eventually grow to like Will as a person as well. Her sister is really helpful for her situation as a helper.

Will's family is quite rich, yet has many problems. His sister is overly protective of him, and his father practically sees him as a nuisance.

I loved the part when they were at the wedding and they danced together.
I loved the part when Lou was choosing a dress and Will and Nathan were being fashion critics
I loved the part when Will gave her the stripey bumblebee stockings for her birthday
I just really really enjoyed the little moments they had that made both of them smile.

One thing that surprised me is that although I cried in the end when they said goodbye, and with the letter he left her, it didn't hit me as much as I thought it would. I think it's because the hype around it is for the fact that it is a book that will make you cry. I think that just because I was expecting to cry, I didn't... Does that even make sense?

I really liked the message of spreading your wings and living - that was an amazing message! I just had a harder time with the idea that life as someone in a wheelchair withe quadriplegia was so awful that the only thing to do was to... stop.

Overall, I really liked this book! It was so sweet in so many ways and crushed me in the end. I'm giving it a 5/5! :D Even tough there was an idea I didn't like so much, it was somewhat understandable, and there were other things that covered for it :)



 
Have you read Me Before You? What did you think of it? Let us know! :D

Click here for the book on our website>> 

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Harry Potter and the cursed child

 

Blogger Jolein: 'Eindelijk weer een Harry Potter boek!'  

 

Eindelijk een nieuw Harry Potter verhaal! Toen ik deel 7 uit had gelezen, viel ik in een gat. Na jaren de Harry Potter boeken te hebben verslonden en sommige delen wel 10x te hebben gelezen, kwam er een einde aan de reeks. En nu, jaren later, verscheen er tóch nog een Harry Potter boek!

Ik kon niet wachten tot de Nederlandse versie verscheen en kocht hem in het Engels. Wat was het heerlijk om weer terug te duiken in de wereld van Zweinstein, dooddoeners, zwerkbal en boterbier! 

Harry, Ron en Hermelien zijn inmiddels volwassen en hun kinderen volgen lessen op Zweinstein. We volgen zijn zoontje Albus die voor het eerst naar Zweinstein gaat. Hij raakt bevriend met niemand minder dan de zoon van Harry's rivaal Draco Malfidus. Samen ondernemen ze een gewaagd avontuur, dat absoluut niet de afloop heeft die ze willen...

Het boek is, zoals jullie weten, een toneelscript, maar na een paar bladzijden merk je daar niks meer van! Het verhaal zit vol spanning en verrassende wendingen. Je wordt meegenomen naar gebeurtenissen uit eerdere delen en je doet een schokkende ontdekking...

Voor de Harry Potter fans een échte MUST READ!

Aanstaande zaterdag 19 november verschijnt Harry Potter en het vervloekte kind in het Nederlands. Dus heb je hem nog niet gelezen? Zeker doen!

Er is net een flinke voorraad binnengekomen bij Boekhandel Dominicanen:

Ik geef het boek 4 crosses.